> David Dunham, of the Seattle Anti-Dog Posse:
> > As for the Orlanthi and dog issues: I think I've said so before, but
> > the Dragon Pass Orlanthi were brought back from death by Harmast
> > Barefoot (OK, I exaggerate slightly, but Lokamayadon was strangling
> > the cult), and that Harmast was of the alynx clan...
>
> I think this argument rests on the (mistaken) belief that someone is
> arguing against the proposition that DP Orlanthi like cats (mutatis
> mutandis, sheep...). Haven't noticed this, myself, and will merrily
> stipulate that yes, the DP Orlanthi like cats... Rather, some question,
> to what level does their insane hatred against dogs (m.m. goats) rise?
> And furthermore, even a particular level of violent dislike, how
> _consistent_ is this from clan to clan, and how successfully has it been
> carried out as a policy of pan-species genetic cleansing across a
> moderately large, culturally diverse, and orthographically crinkly
> piece of land.
Everyone agrees the Orlanthi (of Dragon Pass, which is all this message is about) love cats. There's obviously less agreement on their treatment of dogs, especially from the Seattle Pro-Dog Posse (paraphrasing: "but why would anyone not like dogs?").
Let me restate: who is the most influential Orlanthi myth re-maker of the Dawn Age? Harmast. What is Harmast's clan? Alynx. So Harmast's clan almost certainly has an ancient hatred of dogs. Their magic is oriented towards hating dogs. If Harmast were a RQ character, he could probably gain 1 Magic Point every time he kicked a dog. Harmast is also an imperfect individual, not immune to temptation. He is put in a position where he gets to define Orlanthi myths. Of *course* he strengthens the anti-dog myths as much as possible, and does a little selective editing. Or to be more favorable to Harmast, when he picked myths to use on the Lightbringer's Quest, he picked the ones more favorable to himself so he had a better chance of succeeding on the quest. When he returns, those myths are now considered the better, official ones.
But Harmast isn't Lokamayadon, so not every clan is going to completely buy this. The Greydog clan (assuming they were around in the Dawn Age) probably wouldn't. And there's that evil clan in King of Dragon Pass that keeps trying to raise dogs...
On the other hand, any clan who goes by the canonical (King of Sartar p.71) version of the pantheon myths will have their magic weakened if they don't act against dogs. Orlanth fights the Bad Dogs. QED any dog in the next valley over is potentially a Bad Dog, and should be suppressed.
Orlanth has many enemies, and nobody can fight them all, but anyone can kill a dog and feel pious.
> Apparently some can carry forth this chain of reasoning and conclude
> that there's not a dog (much less, goat) alive in all of Kerofinela.
Not I.
Eric Rowe wrote
> So, what you're really saying is that real world place names make
> sense. King of Prussia, PA, Lebanon, OR, Chevy Chase, MD, etc.
I've always wondered why there is more than one Universal City in the USA. You'd think one ought to cover it.
David Dunham <mailto:dunham_at_pensee.com> Glorantha/RQ page: <http://www.pensee.com/dunham/glorantha.html> Imagination is more important than knowledge. -- Albert Einstein
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